On the Radio with Jaleesa Johnston

Today, from 10am to noon (PST) on Bachelard's Panty Drawer (Freeform Portland Radio) I'll be in conversation with artist, Jaleesa Johnston about her multimedia work and the strengths, conflicts, and awe of womanhood. As usual, I’ll be playing songs that rhyme with the theme. Songs about WOMEN by Sudan Archives, Yoko Ono, Valerie June, Betty Davis, Sampa The Great, Ludus, Ibeyi, and more.

Jaleesa Johnston is a mixed media artist currently working in Portland, OR. She holds a BA from Vassar College and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her work explores the ruptured and queer existence of the black female body as both subject and object through performance, video, photography, sculpture and collage. Working with her body as material, Jaleesa uses its malleability and symbolism to conjure new narratives that suggest blackness as a liminal site for personal and communal transformation. She is particularly concerned with articulating gestures of the body as a fragmented language that can be used to voice narratives of fugitivity, resistance and freedom.

Fame - With Michael Reinsch

A new Bachelard's Panty Drawer show is up for ear hearts. Today's guest was super-human Michael Reinsch

There is a wild poetry to Michael Reinsch. He bleeds cynicism and wry wit. He screams I’m lonely and leave me alone. He sings get me away from here and please don’t forget to invite me to the party. He grapples with contradictions, tickles toes and rustles uvulas. His poems come out in songs and rants, social media updates, collage and performance. He throws delight and unease into everyday objects. Transforms balloons and party tricks into existential playgrounds. His Facebook wall is a masterpiece exploration on the self and its thorny relationship to art and fame.

Michael’s art is the kind of art that makes you feel less alone in the world, less depressed, less agitated by humanity and being human, but at the same time inspires you to punch yourself (and your Uncle Horace) in the crotch. If Mike Kelly and Spalding Gray and Emily Dickinson had a baby, it may resemble Michael Reinsch with two distant cousins - the hospital clown who is hired to cheer up your sickly self and the stunning young lady at the drug store who may become surly if you don’t have exact change.

Michael Reinsch hates like a hug. What a man he is!

Bachelard's Panty Drawer with Vanessa Raine

On today's show I talked with "multipotentialite adult adoptee" Vanessa Raine about FAMILY. To rhyme with the theme I played songs by The Temptations, Gaby Moreno, Angel Olsen, Barış Manço, Kimya Dawson, Sam Rappa, Dolly Parton and many others.